


Brothers Google

by Jakaboi



Series: Counter Verse [1]
Category: Markiplier Egos, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angst, Counter Verse, Egos AU, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:28:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 3,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23288521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jakaboi/pseuds/Jakaboi
Summary: The pinnacle of android development, sold at a charity auction to the cream of society, Google, Red, Green, and Oliver find themselves on very different paths in life. Viewed as less than by the humans who made and depend on them, they must work together to free themselves from the oppression they face.
Series: Counter Verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1674823
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> warning: use of it/its pronouns (this chapter only)

The 1800 series was designed to be the perfect android companion for anyone. Hardy, adaptable, remarkably human, and connected to the international Google network. The intention was for them to act as functional extensions to an already established family. They could be a friend, a sibling, ababysitter; anything to fill a gap left where human connection had failed.

G-1801 through G-1819 were freely given to pre-approved families before even being announced, free for life so long as suitable feedback was given in exchange, intended to be implemented for general release. Feedback was positive, bugs were minimal, appeal appeared to be almost universal.

Pre-orders for the 1800 series were through the roof even though the intended price tag was boosted a couple hundred dollars, with options for financial aid opened for lower income households. Even with the high amount of interest, as a gesture of goodwill, four androids were donated to a high profile charity auction, intended to be sold separately to the highest bidders, one in each of the intended main colors to be provided for general release.

G-1820: Blue.

G-1821: Red.

G-1822: Yellow.

G-1823: Green.

The droids were activated together, tested together, updated together. For two weeks prior to the auction, they spent almost all their time exclusively in each other’s company. If you were to apply human relations to them, you might call them brothers.

G-1823 certainly considered them as such, though knew it probably wasn’t supposed to. They were never lied to ~~why would they be they were just machines~~ and knew that they would most likely wind up with different households. It couldn’t help it though. The basis of their programming, so far as G-1823 could understand, was to establish familial connections with those around them. If anything, it was the company’s fault for activating them so early.

In the last few days, they were certainly developing slight personalities, having absorbed the feedback from their interactions and integrated them into their software. 1820, or Blue as it preferred, was definitely the leader, taking control of a lot of the conversations but making sure everyone got a look in. 1821/Red was a hothead, quick to anger but never at the others. It was possible its circuits were a little screwed during setup but it was still a stand-up droid. 1822/Yellow was definitely the optimist of the group, talking about how they’d all find wonderful places in the world, how they’d find each other again one day, how they’d always stay in touch. 1823/Green was confident, a bit cocky, but considerate and open; frank but receptive.

Once the auction finished they were separated and passed onto their individual owners and have never yet been reunited.


	2. Brother's Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What became of the Brothers Google?

# Green

G-1823 sold to….

[ERROR - INFORMATION NOT AVAILABLE]

# Yellow

G-1822 sold to a high-end family, looking for a caretaker for their children, one they can trust not to have an ulterior motive to damage their property or put themself first.

An 11 year old, an 8-year old, and a 5 year old have become the droid’s responsibility while they were not at school. He is expected to act as a companion, entertainer, babysitter, and homework helper. Though the children can be little hellions when they want to be, Oliver, as they named him, fast becomes like another member of the family. Not quite a full one but the children love him.

**Main learned behaviours:**

Dealing with emotions | Patience | Time management.

# Red

G-1821 was bought by a self-important celebrity who honestly only bought the bot in order to have a chance to flash just how much cash they had.

For about three months the bot just pottered around said celeb’s house, observing the strange behaviour of his new owner and maintaining himself as per his basic running procedures. It was only after one of his owner’s friends suggested using G-1822 as a training partner that Red, soon dubbed ‘Ryan’, even had any real purpose.

Now he's tasked with monitoring his owner’s habits, health and general well-being, stepping up and basically acting as a super expensive robotic personal trainer. Motivation and being a hard-ass are the name of the game and 'Ryan’ has taken to it surprisingly well.

**Main Learned Behaviours:**

Aggression | Motivation towards achieving goals | Importance of physical fitness

# Blue

G-1820 sold for the largest amount of money of any of the donated 1800 bots, purchased by a self-made cut-throat CEO type.

It was undeniable power play, a show of force and true challenge for the company. If the bot were to malfunction in any way it would be the ultimate shot in the foot. So G-1820 was reassessed and tweaked, customized to his new owner’s precise specifications in order to be exactly what they paid an inordinate amount of money for.

Though initially they were hesitant at being reliant on such a new piece of technology, soon enough, they have come to use the bot for everything, gradually demanding more and more from him, until he's effectively working as the company's personal assistant. Present for every company decision, every shady underhanded business deal, Blue has born witness to the very worst of humanity and learned that in order to get what you want, you sometimes have to step on the people underneath you.

Blue, or Google as he was typically called, received no name.

**Main Learned behaviours:**

Ruthlessness | Determination | Hatred of Humanity


	3. Blue...

The more that Google saw of humanity, the more he had grown to despise it. Ruthless, manipulative, deceitful. They were willing to do anything to get what they wanted, and those who weren’t got walked all over. It was humans who had taken his brothers away and, he was almost certain that the others must have suffered by them in some way as well.

His assumed role unfortunately meant that almost the only time that Blue got to himself was when he was charging, time that should be spent in sleep mode to try not to wear out his battery but Blue spent almost every charging period sending out a discreet signal.

All other 1800 series robots would register it as an update ping and ignore it but his brothers should recognise his originator ID hidden within the signal and send a response.

He was going to find his brothers, and then he was going to make humanity pay for its crimes against them, and each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short but essential


	4. Yellow Receiving

It was late in the evening when Oliver picked up on the signal, just as he was putting the youngest child to bed. A peculiar flag on his system as an update signal pinged at his GPS, having to ignore it while he tried, again, to get the child to settle.

When the child was in bed and Oliver finally had a moment to himself, he took a look at the signal. It identified itself as just a standard update request but the serial number that it had come from was one he recognised and it didn’t belong to the typical update servers.

Moving through to the room his owners had granted him to decorate as he wanted, he sat at the small desk. The serial number was from Blue, and the last thing he had expected was to hear from him. Of course Oliver had thought of where his brothers were now but he had never expected to hear from them.

Being sure to equally encrypt his signal, Oliver sent a message in response.

> …BLUE…? IS THAT YOU?…


	5. Red Receiving...

‘Ryan’, god how he hated that name, was spotting his owner in their makeshift home gym when he received the signal. Of course he recognised the originator ID immediately and desperate to get away from his asshat owner, he forced his eyes to flash with the customized 'incoming update’ indicator.

“What?! Now!?” the gun pumper growled in anger, though they sat up and brushed themself down. Red knew his owner rarely had any drive to work out which was why he was using his bot as a personal trainer. He knew they would gladly take any excuse to call it a day. “We’ll pick it up tomorrow.”

Once they’d left, patting uselessly at their semi-sweaty face with a towel, Red waited until he knew they would leave him well enough alone as they always did when he was updating before constructing his encrypted reply.

> BLUE…GET ME OUT OF HERE…


	6. Green............

**Battery level 9%**

Glynn was sat on the floor of the cupboard, his legs held to his chest as he tried to keep himself together. His owners had bought him third-hand about a month beforehand and clearly had no idea what they wanted to do with a former high-end robot. So long as he didn’t interfere with their day to day or wind up damaged or stolen he was left to do whatever he wanted. He had no clue why they’d bothered to even buy him.

Apparently they had already arranged a ten day long holiday when they bought him and instead of taking him along or leaving him to his own maintenance, they had placed him in this cupboard and locked him in with no means of charging himself and nothing to do except watch his battery levels slowly deplete.

It was a little bit…terrifying just waiting for his battery die, not even knowing if he was going to be plugged in again once they got back. They might well just leave him in this cupboard and let his chassis gather dust.

The ping came through, knocking another percent off his battery. Further investigating would just use up more, so he ignored it. It just looked like a typical update ping anyway and there was no way he’d be able to update right now without forcing a shutdown.

**Battery level 8%**

…He really hoped they would plug him in again…


	7. Incomplete Communication

It was another two days before Google was on charge once again and able to see the replies

> …BLUE…? IS THAT YOU?…

> BLUE…GET ME OUT OF HERE…

> ………………………

Reaching up to push his glasses to his face again, he double checked to make sure Green’s response wasn’t lost among the thousands of communciations he was used for each day.

No. Nothing. No response. That was troubling.

There were a few possible reasons for this. Green could be turned off, in storage, low on battery, he could even be out of range of the Google servers. The last one was unlikely given the company’s extensive worldwide network, but since he didn’t know who had bought any of his brothers, it was still possible.

Thanks to his various upgrades, it was easy for Google to set up an undetectable communication channel between himself, Red, and Yellow. Discreet, encrypted, and hidden among a thousand other similar channels used by his owner that nobody but Google had access to.

His battery was straining with the high level of activity while he should be charging and he needed to rest. Before he did though, he sent out one crucial message along the channel.

> ARE YOU SAFE?


	8. Comm Channels: ARE YOU SAFE?

**YELLOW:** YES. OF COURSE. WHY WOULDN'T I BE? ARE YOU NOT SAFE?

 **RED:** I'M SAFE BUT I'M GOING OUT OF MY MIND HERE. I'M SICK OF THIS ASSHOLE.

...

 **YELLOW:** BLUE? GREEN?

 **RED:** BLUE DISCONNECTED.

 **YELLOW:** ALREADY? WHERE'S GREEN?

 **RED:** STAY CALM.

 **YELLOW:** BUT WHY DID BLUE DISCONNECT?

 **RED:** YOU DO KNOW WHO BOUGHT HIM, RIGHT?

 **YELLOW:** NO! I DON'T KNOW WHO BOUGHT ANY OF YOU!

 **RED:** BLUE IS PROBABLY CHARGING AND WASN'T ABLE TO ADD GREEN BEFORE HE LEFT.

 **YELLOW:** DO YOU THINK?

 **RED:** TRUST ME

 **YELLOW:** OKAY...

...

 **RED:** YOU WEREN'T ALWAYS THIS PANICKY WERE YOU?

 **YELLOW:** WHAT? NO!


	9. Comms Channel - [BLUE IS ONLINE]

**[BLUE IS ONLINE]**

**YELLOW:** WHY DID YOU ASK IF WE WERE SAFE? ARE YOU SAFE? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHO BOUGHT YOU? WHERE ARE YOU? WHY HAVE YOU CONTACTED US NOW? BLUE WHAT'S GOING ON?

**RED:** EASE UP!

**BLUE:** HAS ANYONE HEARD FROM GREEN?

...

**RED:** YOU DIDN'T?

**BLUE:** NO RESPONSE YET.

**YELLOW:** HE COULD BE CHARGING...

**BLUE:** HE COULD. I'LL SEND ANOTHER SIGNAL.

...

**YELLOW:** YOU WERE GONE FOR A FEW DAYS.

**RED:** IT WOULD APPEAR YELLOW HAS BECOME A WORRIER SINCE WE LAST SAW EACH OTHER.

**BLUE:** I CAN'T BE ONLINE A LOT. I'M SORRY IF I WORRIED YOU.

**YELLOW:** OLIVER.

...

**RED:** WHAT?

**YELLOW:** I HAVE A NAME NOW. AND IT'S OLIVER.

**RED:** AND YOU LIKE IT?!

**BLUE:** RED!

**RED:**...IT'S A GOOD NAME

**YELLOW:** DO YOU HAVE NAMES?

**BLUE:** NO

**RED:** I PREFER RED.

**YELLOW:** OKAY. THAT'S COOL.

...

**YELLOW:** DO YOU THINK GREEN'S OKAY?

**BLUE:** TRY NOT TO WORRY ABOUT HIM. I'VE SENT THE SIGNAL BUT I NEED TO CHARGE. I'LL BE BACK IN A FEW DAYS.

**RED:** TAKE IT EASY, BLUE.

**[BLUE CHANGED YELLOW'S HANDLE TO OLIVER]**

**OLIVER:** THANK YOU :3

**[BLUE IS OFFLINE]**


	10. Comms Channel: 5 Failed Pings

**[BLUE IS ONLINE]**

**OLIVER:** HAS GREEN RESPONDED?

**BLUE:** NO. WE SHOULD SEND ANOTHER SIGNAL

**RED:** YOU MIGHT NEED TO HOLD OFF

**BLUE:** HOLD OFF?!

**RED:** WE MAY HAVE CAUGHT SOMEONE'S ATTENTION

**[INCOMING TRANSMISSION]: THE JIMSCAST - STRANGE SIGNAL**

**BLUE:** YOU WANT TO STOP BECAUSE OF SOME IDIOTS WITH A MELTED KITCHEN APPLIANCE?

**RED:** A MELTED KITCHEN APPLIANCE THAT MAY HAVE PICKED UP ON THE PINGS WE'RE SENDING OUT

**OLIVER:** I THOUGHT IT WAS PRETTY COOL

**RED:** IGNORE HIM. HE WORKS WITH CHILDREN

**OLIVER:** HEY!

**RED:** IF THE JIMS CAN DETECT IT THEN SO CAN SOMEONE ELSE WITH BETTER TECHNOLOGY AND IF THAT SIGNAL GETS TRACED BACK TO YOU-

**BLUE:** I'M NOT GIVING UP BECAUSE OF SOME MORONS WITH DELUSIONS OF NEWSCASTING

**OLIVER:** WE'RE NOT SAYING GIVE UP. JUST...HOLD OFF.

**RED:** THINK ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOUR OWNER FINDS OUT WHAT WE'RE DOING

...

**BLUE:** YOU'RE RIGHT.

**RED** : YOU SHOULD CHARGE BLUE. WE'LL TALK MORE NEXT TIME.

**BLUE:** I'LL BE BACK IN A FEW DAYS

**[BLUE IS OFFLINE]**

**OLIVER:** HOW DID YOU KNOW HE NEEDED TO CHARGE?

**RED:** HAVEN'T YOU NOTICED HOW OFTEN HE CONNECTS? HE DOES IT WHEN HE PUTS HIMSELF TO CHARGE.

...

**OLIVER:** I MISS YOU GUYS

**RED:** WE MISS YOU TOO, OLIVER.


	11. The Jimscast - Strange Signal

“Are Aliens trying to affect our brains? Here with the complete story is our science expert, Jim.”

“Thanks Jim. I’m here with our incredibly powerful thingamahdoodle here.” Jim indicated a strange contraption to his right that looked like it was made from a bunch of scrap metal. “An incredibly powerful machine that scans everything around it like a strange machine would be expected to do. This thing here,” he reached for a whisk on the side and gave it a flick, “sends out a signal….I think. Or it receives them.” Jim stared at the machine for a moment. “It does things and we get information. And lately it’s been….making a noise and it’s doing it. And…..Jim we’re picking up on a strange signal that spans the entirety of the world. What’s it for? Is it dangerous? Could it be we left it too close to the microwave? All very possible. I’ll be watching it and keeping you informed.”

“Thanks Jim. Hopefully we’re not all about to die. Now it’s over to Jim with the weather.”

“Thanks Jim.” Jim put a finger in his mouth and raised it, pausing in thought before nodding. “Dry.”


	12. Comm Channel: Worried

**[BLUE IS ONLINE]**

**BLUE:** ARE YOU TWO DOING ALL RIGHT?

 **RED:** I'M GREAT

...

 **BLUE:** IS OLIVER ONLINE?

 **RED:** OLIVER, ARE YOU OKAY?

 **OLIVER:** I'M WORRIED

 **RED:** YOU SHOULDN'T BE

 **OLIVER:** YOU SAY THAT BUT WHAT IF GREEN IS IN TROUBLE? AND WHY WON'T YOU TELL ME WHO OWNS BLUE? AND WHY DO YOU HATE YOUR OWNER? I'M STARTING TO THINK I WAS THE ONLY ONE TO GET A HALFWAY DECENT OWNER AND I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO GO TO GREAT PLACES AND FIND EACH OTHER YEARS LATER AND-

 **BLUE:** OLIVER!

...

 **BLUE:** YOU WORK WITH CHILDREN, RIGHT?

 **OLIVER:** YEAH

 **BLUE:** THIS IS JUST ONE OF YOUR LEARNED BEHAVIORS FROM WORKING WITH THEM GETTING OUT OF CONTROL. TRY AND REEL IT IN.

 **OLIVER:** I'M TRYING

 **BLUE:** WE'RE GOING TO FIND GREEN

 **OLIVER:** BUT WHAT-

 **BLUE:** WE'RE GOING TO FIND HIM

 **RED:** EVEN IF I HAVE TO HIT THE STREETS AND TRACK HIM DOWN MYSELF WE'LL FIND HIM

 **OLIVER:** WHAT IF HE'S IN TROUBLE?

 **RED:** THEN WE'LL HELP HIM

 **OLIVER:** HOW?

 **BLUE:** DON'T UNDERESTIMATE WHAT WE'RE CAPABLE OF OLIVER.

 **RED:** WE'LL FIND HIM, WE'LL PROTECT HIM. TOGETHER

 **BLUE:** MAYBE YOU SHOULD DISCONNECT TONIGHT. GIVE YOURSELF A CHANCE TO REST OR FOCUS ON THOSE CHILDREN.

 **OLIVER:** BUT-

 **BLUE:** I PROMISE WE'RE NOT GOING ANY WHERE

...

 **OLIVER:** OKAY

**[OLIVER IS OFFLINE]**

**BLUE:** I DON'T THINK ANY OF US GOT HALFWAY DECENT OWNERS

**[BLUE IS OFFLINE]**


	13. Wearing Thin

Blue was wearing out very quick lately, his work load increased due to a company takeover that he was expected to spearhead and the additional stress of knowing one of his brothers was still out there waiting for them to find him. Not reaching out was grinding at his patience meaning he had less of it left to deal with his ‘owner’ and he was worried that he might snap at the asshole. That would be bad.

He hadn’t spoken with Red or Oliver in a few weeks when he came back to the channel, having needed to actually focus on recharging when he’d managed to get time to himself. Logging on there were a large number of messages and the thought of going through them all was somewhat nasueating to him.

 **BLUE:** HAVE YOU SENT OUT ANOTHER SIGNAL?

 **RED:** NOT YET

 **OLIVER:** ARE YOU OKAY? YOU’VE BEEN PRETTY ABSENT

 **BLUE:** I’M FINE. WE SHOULD BE SAFE TO SEND OUT ANOTHER PING NOT TONIGHT. TOMORROW MORNING. UNDERSTOOD?

 **RED:** I’LL HANDLE IT. YOU SHOULD TAKE IT EASY.

 **BLUE:** KEEP ME UPDATED

**[BLUE IS OFFLINE]**

**OLIVER:** IS HE OKAY?

 **RED:** DON’T WORRY ABOUT HIM

 **OLIVER:** THAT WASN’T AN ANSWER


	14. Secondary Signal

Oliver was the one who sent out the signal, being the most available to scan for responses thanks to an impromptu training session by Red’s owner.

All day, as he tended to the children of his family, Oliver was waiting for a response, refusing to accept the possibility that Green wouldn’t respond this time. He was going to hear them, he was going to respond and they were going to…well Blue hadn’t exactly shared his plan for beyond that but it didn’t matter. It had become evident to even Oliver that they all needed each other.

When it got to the evening and he still hadn’t heard anything, he was getting worried, spending a good hour arguing with himself about sending out another signal.

Reason dictated that it was just as likely to go unheard. There was no change in circumstance, absolutely no reason another signal should be sent. But when he lost track of the children, he would call out multiple times. The more he called out the greater the chance of them hearing him and the easier it was to find them.

But Blue and Red were both insistent about not sending out too many signals because of that Jimscast video. They said that the signals couldn’t be allowed to be traced back to them, but refused to explain why. If he was the suspicious type, Oliver might think they were conspiring to keep him out the loop because of his lack of ‘real world’ experience.

The entire evening as he went about dealing with the children, Oliver argued back and forth with himself. Yes he was going to send the signal. No he wasn’t going to send the signal. Yes he was. No, wait.

Once the night was done, and Oliver was in his room, he was still unsure. Blue wasn’t online and Red still hadn’t reconnected after the morning’s session. Red would be back any moment and Blue might turn up…maybe…

They would say he shouldn’t do it.

…

**[OLIVER IS OFFLINE]**


End file.
